Pina Earth x Earthly: Interview with Oliver Bolton, Co-Founder & CEO of Earthly
Earthly is a platform that offers a science-based marketplace for climate protection projects and certifications. In addition, Earthly provides companies with innovative visualizations of the projects that make it possible to visualize the contribution to the protection and regeneration of nature. In this way, Earthly enables companies to sequesterCO2, restore biodiversity and support the people most affected by climate change.
The Earthly marketplace features nature-based solutions from around the world that actively combat climate change by reducing and removingCO2 from the atmosphere, restoring biodiversity and improving livelihoods. To ensure transparency and integrity of the marketplace, all projects undergo a thorough assessment of 106 indicators in the areas ofCO2, biodiversity and people.
Pina Earth's Luckaitztal project recently completed the assessment and implementation process. From now on, Earthly customers can purchase Pina Earth'sCO2 certificates directly on the marketplace. In the following interview, we provide an in-depth insight into Earthly's project evaluation. Oliver Bolton, co-founder and CEO of Earthly, provides insights into Earthly's high-quality climate projects and its commitment to greater transparency and reliability in nature-based solutions.
As a ClimateTech entrepreneur, Oliver Bolton is committed to tackling climate change, restoring our planet and securing livelihoods for future generations. Before founding Earthly, he founded Europe's first B-Corp certified drinks company and was awarded the Virgin VOOM Award by Sir Richard Branson.
Earthly has developed its own rating system to evaluate the quality of climate protection projects. Why did you decide to develop your own evaluation? What was the process behind it?
The voluntarycarbon market is growing rapidly, but faces challenges in terms of transparency and realistic assessments of project opportunities. While there are some certifications and standards, our quest for the highest possible quality has led us to strive for an independent assessment for all projects. Our methodology allows us to compare verified and non-verified projects that follow different standards and institutions (e.g. Verra, Plan Vivo, Gold Standard).
An effective and transparent evaluation system must analyze issues such as risk, additionality and sustainability of project solutions - not just in terms ofCO2 emissions.
To develop the criteria, we had a team of internal experts at our disposal, but we also enlisted the support of an independent scientific advisory board from the fields of science, law, governance and ecology, with experience from the FAO, IUCN, UNFCC, Climate Law & Policy, UN-REDD+ and the Blue Carbon Initiative.
Let's dive a little deeper into the assessment. The questionnaire consists of 106 indicators in the categoriesCO2, biodiversity and people. How and why did you choose these three categories? How do these categories and indicators fit with your diverse project portfolio, which is made up of different types of projects in different locations?
The assessment analyzes 106 data points and aggregates information from multiple partners, including BeZero, Earthblox and Google Earth Engine. It is transparent, evaluates a wide range of aspects and provides a clear methodology for assessing impact.
Corporate social responsibility means that companies make a contribution in areas that go beyondCO2 emissions. Poorly designed offsetting programs can have a negative impact on people and nature, which we believe must be avoided at all costs.
This is the aim of our project appraisal. The three impact areas ofCO2, biodiversity and people contribute equally to the overall assessment of the project, as they all strongly influence the long-term positive effects of investments in nature-based solutions. Within each pillar, however, the individual criteria are weighted differently.
All high-quality, nature-based solutions must have basic practices in place to ensure that negative impacts are avoided. Be it calculatingcarbon credits, planting trees in the right locations or limiting factors that threaten biodiversity. This forms the basis for achieving real positive impact.
Positive impact refers to the actual benefits achieved by the project and the way this is managed in a robust and transparent way. It takes time for impact to occur and it is likely to improve over time as a project matures and adopts good practice.
The aim is to compare, fully understand and communicate the impact of projects. For example, the benefits of planting mangroves in Madagascar on species conservation and reducing flooding, or the impact of employment, education, energy, health and equality on livelihoods in local villages in Borneo, Indonesia.
The evaluation in these three categories provides information on whether a project is of high quality. How was the minimum standard for the indicators and the overall assessment determined?
The Earthly Project Score reflects the carefully selected and weighted criteria and uses both a confidence score and a maturity score. Only projects that exceed the minimum standard pass the screening process.
The Confidence Score relates to the risk assessment aspect of the project, based on the quality and quantity of the evidence provided.
When assessing the maturity level, each category is given a score from 0 to 4 to indicate the degree to which it is sufficiently developed to achieve the objectives and to reflect the likelihood of their implementation.
Each score is also assigned a weighting, so that projects that are most indicative of high-quality nature-based solutions and most closely align with our values receive the highest score in our evaluation.
The evaluator assigns a score for each category, which is derived from the scores described above. This score is then standardized on a scale from 1 to 10. To obtain the final score for the project, the average of all three impact areas -CO2, biodiversity and people - is calculated, all of which contribute equally to the score. This gives an indication of the quality of the project at a glance, which goes beyond pureCO2 avoidance or reduction. The score ranges from 0 to 10, with 10 being the highest possible score and 6 being the approximate average of projects on the voluntarycarbon market. A score of more than 7.5 means that very good practices have been applied.
The Pina Earth projects are the first German climate protection initiatives on your platform. What potential do you see in the regional projects and how do the Pina Earth projects contribute to your high-quality portfolio in the three categories ofCO2, biodiversity and people?
The inclusion of Pina Earth's projects on our platform was an important milestone, as it marks our first foray into nature-based solutions in Germany. In Europe, there is a strong trend towards local investment in climate protection projects by companies. These not only promote the preservation of nature, but also offer our German customers the opportunity to make a contribution to climate protection directly in their home country.
Pina Earth's project reflects the high standards we strive for. With an overall score of 7.4, the project is well above the industry average. This high score and your holistic approach clearly demonstrate that the project has the potential to promote biodiversity, sequester significant amounts ofCO2 emissions and secure the sustainable future of the forest for the benefit of the wider community. Working with forest owners to educate them about climate change and improve their forest management practices is exactly in line with our mission.
Another promising aspect is the scalability of the project. We see enormous potential for realizing Pina Earth's goal of transforming endangered pure stands into diverse, ecologically vibrant habitats. Monocultures are widespread not only in Germany, but throughout Europe and internationally. Our partnership with Pina can lead the way in the transition from monocultures to biodiverse and climate-resilient forests. Together, we envision a future in which our forests are not only green, but also diverse and sustainable - for the benefit of nature and people.
You can find more information about our valuation here:
Project Assessment Explainer
Technical Guide to the Project Assessment
Sarah Meßmer has been supporting Pina Earth's clients in effectively communicating their climate contribution since 2023. Prior to Pina Earth, she had already gained extensive experience in corporate consulting, including through her involvement in the student consultancy 180 Degrees Consulting Munich and at BCG.
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